Aliens in the Ghost Zone
by starzxxcartoonzs
Summary: Dib has worked his butt off trying to make new technology to best Zim, but will he manage? Or will it instead plunge the two of them into a remarkable journey with the life of a half-ghost, half-human and his friends and force the two to become allies? Well, duh, the second one!
1. Chapter 1

~Zim~

It all started on an abnormal day in the house of the infamous human, Dib. While I DESPISED the child, he hadn't been coming over to allow me to defeat him as usual, which I found weird. I began to spy on him for a change, but only Gaz was at his house. _Odd,_ I thought. _I'll just check my hidden cameras. My newest GENIUS plan to take over the world is going to take awhile to construct itself, anyways._ Once I traveled back home and viewed my amazing equipment placed brilliantly all over the town of the smelly humans, I found that the Dib-pig was nowhere to be seen. Obviously the human lurked in my lair! How had ZIM been so foolish to leave his base unprotected to go check on the DIB?!

"DIIIIIB! Show yourself to ZIM!" I re-positioned myself into a fighting stance and looked around.

After a few moments of silence, I released my robot legs from my Pak and began looking around. The Dib-human was here somewhere, I knew it! Unwanted thoughts formed in my Pak of how I over-cared for the child.. _Zim, you are worrying about the child! Just request an alliance! You know you won't destroy the Dib-stink! _I growled. _Humanity is beginning to get to me... Compassion- _I paused and began new tactics to distract my brain. Yelling! "NO! You are ZIM, and stupid HYOO-MAN emotions do not get in the way of ZIM! Zim shall RULE!"

I desperately gasped to sway my thoughts. It wasn't working! Why, WHY was I still thinking about Dib?! That problem soon disappeared as a sensor Gir had placed stealthily in the Membrane house began beeping in my own base. "Warning: Membrane lab experiencing high levels of ghost energy," the computer said. "Remind me again WHY those are in Dib's base? Don't you, like, hate him?"

"Do not question ZIM!" I threw my hands in the air, obviously to show-no, PROVE, Zim's authority! "I just need to monitor what the little pig-smelly is up to. His attacks are pitiful, yes, but bothersome. But.. If he's dealing with ghost energy.. Hmm! Perhaps I could.. Help out..."

I chuckled evilly! From all my painful MINUTES of studying, I understood that ghosts harnessed great energy! "Quickly, Gir, get in the cruiser-" Gir was nowhere to be found, and to be honest, my minion could stay home. "This mission could be dangerous, anyways.." I muttered to myself as I hopped in my beautiful Voot Cruiser.

As I sailed through the sky to Dib's house in the AMAZING disguise, I wondered what the human was up to. Perhaps I would find out soon.. His defenses were no match for Zim, and neither were his weak gun-shaped sticks he dared to call a weapon.

~Dib~

"Wh-What?!" I caught my breath as a huge, green, swirling oval formed overhead. "That shouldn't have happened! Ooooh, Dad's going to kill me if he knew I was using his labs without asking!"

After getting up and falling out of my shock, I reviewed what happened. I was testing out my new ray to shoot Zim with on a metallic target. It was filled with some green-ish energy. Sure, I had experienced a little overconfidence when assembling the thing, but the results shouldn't have been so extreme. My calculations were almost always correct. Based on my extensive supernatural knowledge, the hole appeared to be a portal to another dimension. I revised my construction papers and notes on the device. "Huh. Flawless.. It may not damage the alien, but this might be a learning experience! Plus, it'll be cool!"

I grinned and studied the portal for what seemed to be hours. Eventually, I had drifted into sleep and dreamed about Zim's guts lying everywhere. Even though it seemed good, the idea wasn't as striking as before. _Maybe you don't want to destroy Zim.. Maybe he's the only one who's ever really shown some care for you-_ I ended the trail of thought. That thinking was ridiculous! Zim was evil and wanted to take over the Earth and the inhabitants. Sure, the humans endlessly showed me no mercy and suffering, but who cared? They would care one day, the day I showed them I wasn't crazy! The day I showed the ENTIRE human race that Dib was not a psychotic, delusional, crazy kid who had his heart set on finding nonexistent evil beings who lurked among us in our daily lives! The day I showed that I, Dib Membrane, was fit to earn the oh-so-desired praise from my fellow race! THE DAY THEY ALL FELL TO THEIR KNEES IN RESPECT FOR DIB!

At this point, I was noting my insanity. Even if the rant had been inside my head, I was standing on a table, fist to the air with a fierce look on my face. I didn't care. Maybe I was just a little crazy, maybe they were all just a little right, but one thing was for sure: Zim was an alien, and I needed to stop him, no matter any human attachment my inaccurate, aggravating subconscious felt for him.

As I began to lower myself off the table, there was a huge crash from upstairs. Before I had the chance to look up, I was swept into a rapidly moving vehicle: Zim's spaceship! I should have worried about why the lizard was in my house and snapped to action, but Zim's terrified screaming caught me off-guard. His cruiser's windshield opened and closed rapidly. I suppose I should have felt lucky for not being crushed when I was shoved inside. I joined in Zim's screaming as the ship plunged into the green portal I had opened only hours before.

Once whatever was left of my sense returned, I realized three things:

A) I was in a green realm, full of what seemed to be ghosts and doors.

B) The ship was piloting itself, and it didn't appear to have any sort of auto-pilot on.

c) I was lying on top of a VERY confused and angry Zim.

"Human FILTH, get OFF of me!" Zim shouted. "What are you doing stinking up my ship?! UGH, I knew it was a bad idea to come to your house! Good job, Dib-rot! Look what you've done!"

"Uhhh.. Are you SERIOUSLY pinning this on me?! I was harmlessly doing NOTHING, but noooo, Zim had to come over to check on-" I stopped mid-sentence and blushed. "Eh.. heh.. BUT THIS IS YOUR FAULT!"

The cruiser was spinning out of control through.. well, wherever we were! Zim could win this pointless argument if he wanted, I just cared about where we were! "ZIM! Focus for a minute, you moron! Where are we?!"

"The all-mighty ZIM will check-" All the controls in the ship had gone black and Zim had a startled look on his face. "DIIIIIIIIIIIIB! The map! It's not functioning," he screeched, waving his warms around frantically.

I was pinned to the ground in nanoseconds! The alien may have been arrogant and a sworn enemy, but he moved fast! I struggled to get out of his grip, but I felt that his blood.. or whatever was in him.. was flowing quickly in rage and I was in no way getting out of this. "YOU HAVE DONE THIS TO MY SHIP!" he yelled, twisting my wrists as I cried out in pain.

"I-I did.. nothing!" I began an alternate strategy: kicking at his stomach until he stopped, but Zim was furious and stubborn. "Stop it-ZIM! A portal! BEHIND YOU!"

"Nice try, but I am more intelligent than that, Dib-spit! It will take more than-"

I screamed, in pain and from being frightened, as the portal we seemed to be heading directly for was getting nearer and nearer. "ZIM! JUST TURN YOUR HEAD, YOU IDIOT!"

He glared at me and quickly looked over his shoulder. I kicked him off of me. Sure, yelling about the portal had been to mainly to get his gloves off of my arms, but concern flooded my brain as we flew through the portal. The Voot Cruiser collapsed on the floor, rolling a few times, then knocked some odd looking equipment off of a wall. Zim was now on top of me. After the shock wore off, I pushed Zim off of me. He fell out of the broken windshield and onto the floor. Pain shot up my left knee and arm. Glass-or whatever had cracked-was stabbing into my body! I yelped and jumped out of the ship and landed on my good arm, which was still hurting pretty badly.

As I moaned in pain, the seemingly unhurt alien walked over to me. "Pathetic human organs," he mumbled. "Looks like the Dib is in pain. Huh, oh well."

Zim began rummaging through the supplies around us. "Hmm.." He examined the weapons and more of the strange green stuff that had been in my gun earlier.

Well, while he did that, I focused on remaining conscious and pulling glass out of me. There had only been a few pieces implanted in me, but my whole side was an entire mess of blood and reddish goo. I noticed some of the same goo on Zim's side. Some glass had been stabbed into him, too. He was most likely just ignoring the pain and looking for a way to escape (but leave me here in this dimension, of course). Everything started to go blurry.. I tried to stand up, but I heard something fall. It wasn't me. It was Zim, on the ground, in some form of unconsciousness. I limped over to him and soon followed him in sleep.

~Danny~

"Phew, now that the all-powerful box ghost is out of the way for the millionth time this month.." I cracked a smile towards Sam and Tucker. "We're done for today! And it's only.. 7:30. Aw man, the one time my parents are gone and my curfew isn't in effect, we get done early."

Tucker yawned. "I'm still exhausted from yesterday. We were up until six! My folks would have freaked if we hadn't put your Tucker-bot in my bed."

"I just told my parents I was out looking for some floral dresses. They seemed over excited and encouraged me to stay out all night and spend all the money I needed." Sam chuckled, but mirrored Tucker's yawn. "Buuut.. even goths need sleep."

"Alright, let's get you guys home, then. We have a test tomorrow," I reminded them.

They both broke out laughing. "Haha, are you implying that you're going to study?" Sam asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Hey, I can't afford to fail history! Sure, it's boring and useless, but I want to have something to fall back on if this whole Danny Phantom thing doesn't work out." After I flew the two back to their houses, I returned home.

Jazz was gone for the week with Mom and Dad. She was receiving some reward for something like communication or peace. Oh well, that just meant I didn't have to worry about being torn apart molecule by molecule, vaporized, or experimented on by my parents. I still wasn't used to that, after all this time. _Last order of business, release the Box Ghost back to the Ghost Zone.. _I went through my front door, turned back to a human, and marched downstairs. Awaiting me was quite the scene.

Ugh.. Where do I even begin? It was horrifying. There was a trail of blood following some kid on top of another kid.. The first kid had hair that looked like it naturally flowed up, then backwards on his head. He wore a black trench coat with holes in it and was drenched in blood. The second person with a green hoodie had green antennae sticking out of his hood. _Whoa... _I released the Box Ghost and closed the portal. _What happened here? _There was a spaceship crashed into the wall. _Whoooaaa, cool! _A groan drew my attention away from my love of space. "Diiib-human.." My ghost sense wasn't going off, which meant they were incredibly good at masking their ghost-ness, or they were from somewhere else. They obviously came through the portal, the way the ship was angled and the lack of holes in the roof.

I checked a clock on the wall. 7:37 PM. After examining the scene by myself one last time, I blasted off to retrieve Tucker and Sam. I navigated my way around to Tucker's house and poked my head through his bedroom wall. He was tinkering with an old PDA. Usually, I would have gone invisible and played a little joke on him, but this was urgent. "Pst, Tucker!"

"Huh?!" He nearly fell out of his chair. "Oh, Danny!..." He moaned. "Ugh, did the Box Ghost get out again? Or is this serious?"

"This is serious, dude. I got home and something happened to my parents' lab."

"What happened?"

"I don't even know. There's blood everywhere and two corpses on the floor."

"Whoa. You know I'm a bit queasy, man.."

"Oh, please. C'mon, let's go get Sam.." I grabbed him and soared over to Sam's place.

After I explained the situation, we flew back to my house. To my surprise, one of the 'corpses' were moving! They hadn't been dead, just unconscious. It was the one in the green hoodie.. At least that's what it had looked like. He was struggling to get up, until six robotic legs shot out of his backpack. My friends and I hovered just under the ceiling, invisible. The kid looked around, revealing his maroon eyes, his green skin, missing nose and ears..

"Seems like someone really did catch his nose when he was little.." I whispered.

"Who's there?!" he shrieked.

_Wow.. He's got some pretty good hearing... _I bit my lip and flew Sam, Tucker, and myself over to the staircase. I transformed back to human and walked downstairs. "Umm.. Hello?"

"Back off.. I don't mean any harm to you REVOLTING humans, yet-..." He caught onto our stares. "Harm from another.. human-My disguise!" He felt the top of his head, lightly rubbing his antennae. "Uhh.. Don't judge my hair style! And...pink eye!"

"What are you?.." I inquired, beginning to walk carefully down the steps.

"I am just another one of your every day DISGUSTING human comrades made of FILTH! Allow me to exit your GREASY place of residence as a normal human." Whatever this thing was, it wasn't very tall. Maybe the size of a nine year old?

"Uhh... If there's one thing I've learned in Amity Park, it's that weird things that happen are always made to be questioned." I narrowed my eyes. "Now, *what* are you?"

"I am ZIM!" He held his fist in the air and began rushing towards us.

"I'm going-" I stopped as the legs retracted and he fell back onto the ground, unconscious. "...ghost?"

The other figure lying on the ground sprang up, but instantly showed an expression of regret and pain. He wobbled around and used the wall as support. "PLEASE... tell me.. you saw that.."

"What's going on here?" Sam chimed in. "Are you guys from the Ghost Zone?"

"...Ghosts, eh?" He looked at his feet, but registered the sentence and raised his head. "Wait.. You believe in ghosts?!"

"All of Amity Park does, as it is home to the famous Danny Phantom, who fights evil ghosts!" Tucker announced, smiling. "Seriously, where have you been?"

"Apparently, in the wrong place! I'm Dib," Dib said as he grinned in delight, but the look quickly faded into confusion and bitterness. "Before I tell you ANYTHING, what are you?!" He pointed at us.

"Um, humans, duh. What did you think we were, ghosts?" Tucker laughed nervously and elbowed my stomach.

"..But I'm a human! And this is another dimension! And you guys aren't completely oblivious to ghosts, or aliens, bigfoot, werewolves.. all that stuff!" The boy stared at us. "Well.. you believe in aliens, right?"

"Eh heh.. We're not that crazy here.." Anything left of Dib's smile dissolved.

"Oh," he said solemnly. "Crazy, eh?..." He gestured towards Zim.

"Oh!" Sam exclaimed, looking at his little green friend. "He's an alien..?"

"YES! Of course he's an alien! I'm hoping you aren't blind like EVERY other human from where I come from! I explain the no ears thing! NOPE! It's a medical condition! They all fall for it! The no nose thing! NOPE! Nobody cares! Green skin! Skin condition, of course! Eyes? Just wears contacts. Antennae? Some space-like wig! My hours and HOURS of hard work in exposing him, getting him onto the autopsy table where they will delicately examine his squeedely-spooch.. his guts will be everywhere, FINALLY! AND I will have victory! Nobody will call me crazy or laugh at me for being weird, because for once, I WILL show them that I was RIGHT!" Dib gasped for breath. "I.. just hope.. everyone here in 'Amity Park'... isn't as foolish."

We all stared wide-eyed at the boy as he stuttered, attempting to explain himself. "I-I.. I'm sorry. That built up on the Voot Cruiser trip over here..." Our new friend collapsed on the ground, still moaning. "Zim caused this..."

"And Dib-puke shall pay..." The alien, as Dib had described the green child, had one eye opened. "It's your fault human, just admit it.."

"They know your secret Zim..maybe in my own town, they didn't choose to believe me, but I'm doing this for the sake of the Earth... From where we came from."


	2. Chapter 2

~Dib~

"..Well, you must have fallen through the portal from another place in the world, because you're still on Earth right now, dude," the blue-eyed kid in the middle said.

Earth? No, this couldn't be Earth. Everything was subtly...different. I quickly scanned their bodies. "..But... you have five fingers. And your irises and pupils in your eyes are huge and... er, circular? Your heads are weird, too." They all continued to stare at me.

Maybe they weren't the brightest here, either. "He's got a point, Danny. We look pretty different," the kid with glasses stated. _Glad to know someone here can see the obvious, too... _

They walked down the stairs, looking around at the lab. I took a chance to glance around at the damage. This was probably one of their houses that we wrecked. _Oops... Oh well. Guilt trip over. _I identified a red trail leading to where I had fallen unconscious near Zim. Speaking of Zim, what was that idiot doing? I spotted Zim nearby and watched him. He seemed to be just waking up, too. My body hurt like crazy from the crash, and it didn't help that I had just exhausted my lungs from going on my little rant. Zim began to stand up. Off of instinct, I immediately hopped on my feet, ignored the pain, and tackled him when he began to limp/run to the stairs. The people we had just met (Danny was one of their names, from my observation) seemed to just now notice. They were still examining the wreck.

"Zim! You may get away sometimes, but now you have nothing! The only Irken equipment for dimensions is broken!"

Zim groaned and tried to wiggle out from under me, but I had his fists and ankles pinned. "Stupid Dib-human, I can do far more than any FILTHY creature in this dimension can do with the components within my Pak!"

"You're not getting away this-" His ankles (did he have ankles?) slid out from under mine and into my stomach. "Oof!"

I fell over, moaning. The two from earlier.. wait, weren't there _three? _Yeah! Where was the third? No matter.. I turned my attention back to Zim. Nothing could bring more harm to anyone on this planet than that rotten alien, therefore making him the main priority. When the two grabbed Zim's wrists (wait, did he even have wrists...?), legs shot out from his Pak and began to attack. At least, I thought they were. A figure shot out of the ceiling. Zim (probably off of instinct) swiped a metallic leg at it, but it went straight through him. Ice beams shot out of the eyes.. of the ghost!

"Hey.. hey.. Chill, would'ya?" I rolled my eyes at his 'pun', but recognition sparked in my brain from his voice...

The legs froze in their positions and snapped like twigs. _Irken materials do not combine well with cold weather.. huh. _In the meanwhile, Zim was shrieking. If his brain source was in his Pak, then surely this caused him actual pain. "FOOLS! Do you know what you've done?!" I swear I could see an alien vein nearly bursting on his head (which is IN FACT bigger than mine) while sweat dripped down his face. "My robotic legs, my ROBOTIC LEGS! I'll have to take apart GIR TO GET THESE BACK!" I still had no idea who's side Gir was on.

Since the ghost seemed to have this under control, I observed him. Huh. Weird.. He had the same hair, eyes, face.. I smacked myself on the head! The voice was the missing person from earlier! Were they the same? It would make sense, because they had disappeared, but how would that even work? Oh.. what was his name? Danny something-Phantom? Danny Phantom. Ahaha. You see, because he's a ghost.. and phantoms are ghos-yeah yeah.

Now that it was settled who he was, I couldn't let him know. To study him, I couldn't make the same mistakes as I made with Zim. Wars with two supernatural creatures in an alternate world was not going to fare well for me..but I still had one war going on. Danny Phantom set Zim down, raced through the ceiling, and was probably in the room as normal human Danny, or whatever his alias was. Zim was still screaming in pain. I giggled, and laughed, until I started hurting. I stopped and then was on the floor, almost crying. "Poor..._cough_...Little Zim! All by.._cough cough..._himself here!" This was just too beautiful!

~Zim~

AGH! Would Dib ever shut his mouth attached to his ginormous head?! His voice was making this even worse! Sure, he was right, I was stranded! Maybe I was writhing in pain! OH, such pain I was in! BUT-not a human's fault! JUST A SIMPLE MISTAKE! A human could never even cause the all-mighty ZIM to tremble, much less cry in agony! Except Dib.. eh..NO! It was all, er, GIR'S fault! Yes! Because Gir can be a klutz!

I gasped for DISGUSTING human oxygen and try to get ahold of my thoughts. Maybe six of my legs were gone, but this was not the end! The staircase-It was so close! And the ghost had not seemed to be bothering me! I began to sprint with my AMAZING Irken speed and took a step. "AHHHHH!" It was unbearable, and it was ALL the Dib-stink's fault! I could not go blaming poor Gir at a time like this!

This was IT! I was showing these weaklings mercy! They could have been DESTROYED by now! I stood in front of all of them, one of the veins in my forehead (much smaller than Dib's elephant sized head) throbbed. "You will pay! Zim shall make you all PAY!" I stuck my fist out of them, eyes narrowed.

"Ooooh _cough, _Zim, what're ya gonna do? Slap us with your glove? It's over!" DIB could really get on my NERVES, as humans put it.

"I'll figure something out with your inferior tools. Even a child could build a ray before the smartest, SMELLIEST human on any of your REVOLTING planet Earths could!"

"Oh yeah?" Oh great, another annoying human voice. "I could program my PDA before you could even blink!"

"I was making my MIGHTY ship before you were all born!"

"Danny, just finish him off, already."

"I can't send him back to the ghost zone!" THERE! The EVIL ghost that had stolen my legs, oh how I would torture him in many ways..

I SNARLED at the pathetic display! Even without my stuff, Invaders were prepared for combat! Their defenses wouldn't even be able to react in time! But who would be the first to go? The DIB, or our new friend, "Danny?" Oh, decisions, decisions... The ghost.. wait, he looked pretty much EXACTLY like the guy from earlier. His eyes and hair were just differently colored.. He had the same voice and height, too. Dib was still probably deceived; it was a pretty good cover and Dib was not exactly smart. Oh well, I would play it off. The human would be most gullible in his weak disguise, which means Dib was about to meet his fate!

Even though Irkens do not tire, my limbs were beginning to ache and exhaust. My energy would soon recharge itself, but this was my chance. The putrid excuse for an enemy of ZIM was in a perfect position to beg for his life. I backed into the wall and grabbed a gun glowing a dangerous green. I shot it at the Dib-worm and waited to laugh at his demise, but it never came. "FEEBLE HUMAN WEAPONS! Dib shows no sign of intolerance for the goop upon his ginormous head!"

"My head is NOT THAT BIG! And you got us into this stupid mess!" Huh, why wasn't this working?

I inspected the GROSS human material. It burned my hand, turning it red and making it swell up. I fell to the floor, closing my eyes. Maybe ZIM would not win now, but later demise would could, OH such demise ZIM shall bring!

"Tucker! Try the thermos on him!" The darker skinned child uncapped a thermos and pointed it towards me.

"Pitiful.." I muttered as my organs burned.

Soon enough.. everything just went dark.. even BRILLIANT Irken bodies had limits.. I was shoved into some box, but that's the extent of my memory.

~Sam~

Now that we had the alien out of the way, it was time to question the supposed human, Dib. We tended to his wounds and bruises. He took a lot of damage in the alien spaceship wreck. After he was all patched up, Danny pulled me off to the side while Dib and Tucker talked about Tucker's PDA.

"Hey, Sam? I think it might be better if you ask Dib questions," Danny said, looking softly at my eyes.

Oh, how I wanted to kiss him.

But now was not the time. I snapped out of my trance from his blue eyes. "Why me?"

"You're more sensitive than Tucker and me. You could get the information out of him easier, and if he refuses or does something dangerous, I don't have to risk going ghost, and we both know Tucker can't fight." We chuckled.

"Alright, I'll do it. Tell Tucker to watch the alien. Uhh, Danny? About the ghost thing..."

"What?"

"Dib doesn't seem like some clueless little kid. Neither did the Zip or whatever his name was. What if he knows your secret?" It was possible; Dib had been looking around the room, and I could have sworn his head was straight enough together to notice that Danny wasn't there.

"Be careful, these guys are from an entirely different dimension," Danny said, once again looking straight into my Gothic soul. "I don't want to see you get hurt, Sam."

Hmm.. Maybe there would be time for a fake-out make-out later...

I casually walked back to Tucker and Dib, smiling. Dib was doing something to Tucker's PDA while he stood there, wide-eyed. Maybe there was more advance technology in this other realm. Better to not spoil their fun, yet, so I studied Dib. Why was he such a threat to the alien? The child looked about eight or nine, had this insane (yet natural looking) hair that curved all the way back, and no pupils. Now THAT was definitely not normal. His eyeglasses' frame was too big for his gigantic head. Huh. Hadn't him and Zim been exchanging insults earlier about the size of heads? So maybe both of them just had exceptionally large heads, even from where they came from.

"Whoa-oh-oh baby!" Tucker stared in amazement at his handheld computer. "Software this good shouldn't be here for another forty years!"

Dib shrugged and played with his wristwatch. It projected a screen. When I squinted, I could see scribbled notes about Zim and a picture. In the picture, it showed an extremely ticked off being leaping towards Dib, with cyan eyes and black hair, but missing a nose and ears. Undoubtedly Zim, but had everyone else on his old planet been tricked by such a stupid disguise? Time to stop wondering and intervene.

"Hey, Dib, can I talk to you for a moment?" I tried to give my most caring, innocent face.

Dib nodded and ran towards me, looking back at Tucker-no, just the kitchen. Something here was creeping him out. We went upstairs to Danny's room, and I just assumed that Danny was listening in invisibly.

"Look, if you're going to be here-" Dib held his hand up.

"I am Dib Membrane. Yes, I am a human, from planet Earth. Zim is an alien, and yes, everyone from where I come from is that stupid." Huh, not too hard, was it? "Can I get a name before I go into my rant?"

"I'm Sam." I thought hard for a moment. "Just a couple of questions... How old are you?"

"I'm nine."

"Aren't you a little young to be hunting down the supernatural?"

"You're what, fourteen? Whoever lives here obviously has stuff in the basement. You guys came down there hours after the crash, so therefore the lab is used often. It doesn't seem like anyone else is home, so you guys went down there on your own. Those were ghost materials in the guns and traps. If I'm going to be honest here, you'll have to be, as well."

I'll be honest, except about Danny. "Don't worry, I'll be honest. This has been bothering me since you've came upstairs. Why were you so nervous downstairs?"

Dib bit his lip and twiddled his thumbs. He giggled shadily. "Heh.. this place just reminds me.. of a dream I once had..well, had wouldn't be the correct term. Lived. Ghosts remind me of a dream I once lived."

I cocked my head sideways. "You lived a dream?"

"Halloween. Dad's equipment, visions, insanity. I was constantly being dragged into a realm of nightmares, staying longer every time. All the creatures that lurked inside my head wanted to get out.. Through my head. A laser shot through my head and a funnel was stuck through it. When I got out.. _Zim_.." He spat the word. "..was dragged in with me. He escaped through the funnel in my forehead."

"Oh." What the heck..? "Uh, how did you get out?"

"I lifted my legs into my head." Dib shivered. "I was a mess of organs when I got out, but I managed to reverse the skin back to the outside of my body." I stared at him, dumbfounded. "You can start laughing now.."

I smiled. "Remember, Dib, you're in Amity Park, home of the weird. Final question: How did you get here? Through a portal? The Ghost Zone?"

"Eh, the Ghost Zone? Is that what you call it? Well, I was making weaponry to go fight Zim with. When I test-shot it, icky green stuff got everywhere and began to form into a portal. I observed the portal for hours upon hours, until Zim flew through my ceiling and knocked us both into the Ghost Zone. Honestly.. It's a blur. We crashed through another portal while he continued to blame me. The ship's controls were all screwed up, and Zim was all sick-ish. Irken things don't seem to be compatible with the-..er?"

"Ecto-energy."

"Yeah, that. But when we flew into the wall, the glass smashed and got into my arms and legs. Zim was reaching for some gun on the wall, and we both finally collapsed. I think. Unless I'm forgetting something that happened."

"Well, that was.. fairly painless! I'm going to go talk to Danny."

"You're Sam... Danny is the one with fluffy hair? The leader of your group?"

I felt my cheeks redden. "Hey! He's not our leader! We're a team!" I crossed my arms.

"Err.. sorry?"

Dib exited the room. Danny came in a few moments later, covered in scratches. "That.. alien.. does not mess around. Tucker and I got him back into the cage, but geez.."

I began to explain what Dib had said while Danny listened intently. OOooh, he was all a girl could ever dream of.


	3. Chapter 3

~Dib~

I rushed down the stairs. These seemed like nice people, but they were bonded together strongly. All I had here was Zim, my mortal enemy. Danny, Sam, and Tucker were less prone to sharing secrets with me, but if I didn't trust them, who would I trust? Zim? Ha, what a laugh. Zim would cut off my tongue if he got the chance. I searched for the entrance to the basement/lab. I caught a small shine of light out of the corner of my eye and turned my head. Tucker! His glasses had glare from the light.

He happily waved at me. "Wow! What did you do to my PDA?!" Tucker grinned from ear to ear and projected a picture of himself smiling.

I shrugged and responded, "Simple programming. My dad was a huge scientist where I come from..hmm.."

Then, Tucker asked something I hadn't bothered to think about. "Oh, dude, your dad?! Don't you think he's wondering where you are?!"

My eyes widened for a second, then closed. Of course my family cared, right? Even Mom, somewhere out there in the huge world, cared. Right? Gaz was probably worried sick. I had thought about this before, whilst in the lab. When I fired the ecto-energy gun and created the portal, my heart had nearly stopped. During my hours of research, I began to wonder what would happen if I had died down there in an accident. What if my heart had stopped completely? Or, when I went through the portal (since I knew I would..), it lead to a pit of fiery death?

"Dib?"

"What?" I snapped my head up, distracted from my thoughts. "Oh, yeah, sure," I answered, stiffly and sarcastically.

"Oh.. Do you have any siblings?"

"Gaz. She's in third grade and has an obsession with video games."

"She'll miss you a ton, then! You're her older brother!"

I sniffled and suppressed a smile. _Perfect.. A chance to escape. _"Tucker.. If you don't mind, I'd like to be alone right now. I'm going to see if any of my notes were in the wreck.."

"Oh... Okay," Tucker replied sadly.

I limped down to the basement, my legs burning from sprinting downstairs from Danny's room. Not my smartest decision. When I came down, I saw Zim in a huge cage with more of the ecto-energy-stuff leaking from the sides, forcing him into the center. His eyes were squinted as he was (angrily) thinking. Today may have sucked for me, but this was a total loss for him. Once I stared at him for a moment, his head snapped up. "Dib!" I noticed that he didn't add some insulting suffix to my name.

"Whatever it is Zim, no-"

"Dib, listen to me for a moment, you... revol...stupi..smel..you, you human!" His struggle to be nice was funny, but scary. _Is he trying to be nice to me? Weiiiird. _"Step into my cage!"

"What? No. I don't want you to escape!" I crossed my arms. "Who knows what havoc you'll cause on this Earth?!"

"It would do me no good to escape now..." Zim sighed. "The MIGHTY Zim is weak! This DUMB green goo surrounding me is weakening me!"

~Zim~

The Dib snorted. "And _what_ exactly do you need _me _for?"

Oh, if only he knew. Back in his pathetic dimension, I had my base, materials, and Gir! Here, I could barely stand. Everything ached from the crash and my usually strong Irken muscles were not holding up in this prison. I had contemplated tricking one of the humans from this Earth, but Dib had expressed how BRILLIANTLY evil I was! They would never work with me! After exploring every option, I had finally come to the conclusion that Dib was my final chance for an ally and escape. It was the only way, no matter how annoying the little snot was.

I signaled for him to step closer. "My voice hurts, can you please.. mmphh.."

Dizziness plagued my Pak as this stupid ghost goop dripped onto my antennae. I stepped to the side. My amazing balance was not going to hold for another ten human minutes!

"Your voice probably hurts from screeching 24/7.."

"Dib.. just this once... please, I beg of you, and don't get used to me begging, help me." I studied his face. "Please. I can't make it back without you.. I have Gir to look after, and I have to help you get back."

Dib considered this. "Well, well. Someone finally came to their senses, haven't they? Haha, Zi-"

"Your voice is unbearable normally, but right now I cannot stand it..and your stupid human bragging." I had begun to study human emotion and expression. "Please, just help me."

Dib unlocked the cage and stepped in. How did the substance spread throughout the edges of the container not discomfort him in the slightest?! I felt more alone than ever, more weak and useless than usual, and more depressed than proud. "..Temporary allies?"

"Temporary allies, Dib-stink." Dib rolled his eyes.

We shook hands, which was a gesture used universally. His grip felt stronger than usual.. had he been doing finger pull-ups? Or was I just getting unfathomably weak? Ugh. Probably both.. Feelings of defeat piled in my squeedely-spooch. "Now, Dib...tell me what you know."

"No, you start!"

"May I remind you that you could take off and run any moment? I don't want to be left here alone. Really."

"Really?"

"Truly. I just need you to treat me like an ally, at the very most I will allow, a fr-frien...an ally." I clenched my fists, debating whether to go softer. "I...I..."

"What is it, Zim?"

_I'm scared, Dib... I keep trying to impress dumb leaders who don't care about me, trying to take over a dumb planet with plans soiled by the likes of you, and an enemy of every race, including my own. Here was not a good start either. I'm utterly useless. _"Nothing, you disgusting human! I said allies! Nothing else!" I gritted my teeth. "Now, tell me what you know!"

Dib sighed. "The guy who was in the middle is a ghost.."

"No, duh! Some new news?"

"Uh, the girl's name is Sam. The green stuff is called ecto-energy. Their technology is really... behind."

"Behind from your time, or mine? Must I remind you of the fantastic Irken equipment?"

"From mine. Look, Zim-"

Pain. Red, hot pain. My legs lost all feeling as I collapsed on the floor. The ecto-energy was dripping from the ceiling and beginning to close in around me! I cried out in pain as the defenseless Zim flailed on the ground helplessly. My arms, legs, everything, began swelling up instantly. I groaned and screamed as my vision began to transition into red and black. A minute later, Dib's voice filled my head.

"Zim?! Zim! This is going to hurt!"

NO! That FOOL! I was already suffering, NOW what did he plan to do?! Before I knew it, my skin began sizzling and burning. INFERNAL human water! OH, how he would PAY! What an ally! "D-Dib...what...are...you...doing?!" I gasped.

"Washing this stuff off of you! Try to stop screaming! Any louder, and you'll draw attention from upstairs!"

I clamped my mouth shut, but squeals still escaped. I tried to focus on something else.. just, get lost in my thoughts... _Useless. Dumb. Unwanted. _I stopped screeching. My subconscious was beginning to take over. _You aren't wanted anywhere.. not here, not back on the other Earth, on Irk, Foodcourtia, nowhere... You're done, Zim. Defeated. The human did it. Not alone, but he did it. Why not suffer? Why is it worth it to be here?_

"Zim?" Huh?

I reopened my eyes, and almost freaked out. What if my biggest fear had come true: I was on an autopsy table? My guts could be all over the floor this instant! I looked around, relieved. Dib was to my aide and the three freaks from this dimension weren't here.

"Zim! Are you awake?..."

"guuuuh... yes, Dib.. and what a lovely morning it is, too.." I moaned.

"...You were talking in your, er, sleep? Would that be the correct term?"

"Fantastic.. what did I say?"

Dib blushed, rubbing his arm. "Uhhhh... You were talking about... taxes?"

I was too tired to care. Wait, I was tired..? How.. odd. ZIM never was tired! It was physically impossible for me to be tired! Yet, I felt like shutting my eyes and sleeping. Guh. Ever since I'd been blasted with the ghost energy, I had been feeling out of the sorts. Weaker, dumber, emotional, and, above all, tired. Whatever.

~Dib~

It was so weird.. I'd never seen Zim asleep, except for that one time he was unconscious. Now, I was feeling sympathetic for him because of the last day. Everything had just been turning around. While he was talking in his 'sleep' (I still don't know what to call it), I was thinking about the same things. He had talked about how useless he was, just anywhere. I was unaccepted by my own race, too. I had an advantage over Zim, though. I was more likable than him...No, that wasn't true. Back in Skool, everyone liked Zim better than me. At least, here, I wasn't hated and people seemed to be smarter. Ghosts (and other supernaturals, I assume) were well-known.

What was I doing? Worrying about Zim? _Remember, Dib. This is the Zim that's tried to kill you many times, perform tests on you, humiliated you, and has made you his sworn enemy. It could all just be a trick... _I knew it wasn't a trick. Zim was a terrible actor.

"What are taxes? Probably some slobbery human game."

"I don't know. I'm only nine!"

"Whatever. What do we do when they come down here and see us working together? They'll never help us!"

I thought hard for a moment. "You have to be back inside your box-cage-thing."

Zim's antennae drooped, similar to a sad dog. He got up, breathed in heavily, and began to march towards the cage. As he marched, I heard snapping sounds from his legs as he grimaced in pain. He continued to walk, sweating his weird Irken sweat. Finally, he'd made it 2 feet.

"Would you like some help?"

Zim glared at me. His eyes seemed to be getting whiter, but that was probably just the lighting. "Help? From the Dib?" He broke out in laughter, which turned into coughing, then crying as he put strain on different muscles in his body. "I'm.. I'm sorry, but no! ZIM is still capable!" He held his nose (at least where it would be) to the ceiling.

6 painful feet later, Zim faced his cage. He looked around, probably unsure if he wanted to go back into that Hell. Slowly, he creaked the door open. The pathway to enter was covered in the ecto-energy. Oh boy. "Why does everything want to hurt Zim...?" He stepped away from the door and leaned against the wall.

I sighed and got a broom. I began to dust the green stuff to the edges of the small, clear room. "Would you like me to carry you in there?" I said, mockingly.

"...yes..." Zim frowned. "Wait, no!" Too late!

As I swept Zim off of his feet, he slapped me, multiple times. He was heavy. Oh well. I grinned and dumped him off in the middle of the room. "You could shave off a few pounds, you know that, Zim?"

"You could work on being nicer and following orders, human Dib," he snapped. "If you ever do that again, I'll dissect your eyeballs while you are still conscious."

Zim didn't scare me, at least not right now. He used to scare me a lot, but then I got to know his weaknesses, strengths, traits... and how loud he was. His progress in everything was impressive and all, but he was weak now. What a good time for questioning! I sat next to him, looking around the cage.

"..What's the deal with the Tallest?"

"Oh, my all mighty Tallest! They must be very concerned of where Zim is! Who is conquering Earth now? Tak? No! I'm afraid she is _gone_," Zim said, bitterly.

"..So they rule your planet? Because of their height?"

"Do not question the brilliance of my society, Dib. Maybe your gigantic head hasn't noticed, but Irkens are a very advanced race. This was all decided long ago! The leaders are very capable. Besides, anyone who is tall is smart! Take your father, the smartest man on your smelly planet!"

"He's scientific, not smart..." I growled.

I reached for a picture inside my coat. A family portrait of Gaz, Dad, and me. Gaz was unhappily looking away, Dad was messing with a calculator, and I was in the middle, eyes full of love for my family. This picture had been taken two years ago. _Maybe he can design a rocket in less than 2 hours, but he doesn't know how to take care of two children.. Or at least one.._

"Science IS smart, Dib."

"Uh huh." I tucked the photo away.


End file.
